Wright R-1820 engine

I’m playing around with a Vector 1/48 Wright R-1820 engine for my upcoming B-17 feature and thought ya’ll might like to see this …

In case you are not familiar with Vector they are a small Russian company that makes mostly radial engines in 1/72, 1/48 and 1/32 scale. They are handled through Neomega in the UK. First is a shot of the kit parts and I do mean kit.

The kit does not include material to make the push rods or the ignition harness. I researched the engine to determine the correct wiring layout. I’ll also have to build the exhaust manifold and engine mounts. The cylinder heads were done with Model Master Lacquer Burnt Iron, the gear reduction box with neutral gray and the black details with Cermacoat black. Silver was used to highlight the details. Push rods were made from .5mm magnet wire and ignition wires from .25mm magnet wire.

I used the .25mm wire rather than invisible thread because the R-1820 used a metalic tube that the actual ignition wires ran through and I tried to duplicate that as closely as possible. I spent about eight hours over two days to build this engine.

Looks mighty fine, Matt!

WHOA! Mr. Swan, nice job! How much does one of those bad boys run? Sure is nice!

Actually they are very reasonable, about $12.00 - $13.00 each. Compared to the Aires R-1820 at $22.00 discount rate.

Beautiful engine Matt, I assume you will display at least one engine on the -17 uncowled? It would be a shame to hide this level of detail.

Regards,

Steve

As I have only eight kits to build I think the chances are good that one shall be opened up.

That is VERY reasonable! nice find!